Your neighborhood national park wants to hear from you.
Its rangers, historians and top brass are eager to know what people want changed, improved or just left the same at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
So says Superintendent Russ Smith. He invites any and all to turn out for open houses being held this week (and this fall) to solicit ideas on how the National Park Service can best manage the 7,342 acres under its care here.
"If people want to make changes to our management plan for the next 20 years, now's the time," Smith said in an interview. "This has to come from the community."
The second-largest Civil War park in the nation (after Chickamauga/Chattanooga in Tennessee), the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania park includes four battlefields spread across what historians call the bloodiest ground in America. The Union and Confederate armies suffered more than 100,000 casualties in the fighting at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House between 1862 and 1864.
Today, the park is a huge magnet for tourism, bringing almost $50 million a year to the Fredericksburg area.
Its general management plan governs every aspect of running this sprawling preserve--from visitor facilities to trenches, trails and roads, to what themes its interpreters, museum exhibits, multimedia and wayside markers try to communicate.
This revision is the public's best chance to have a big impact on what the park does and what it will look like for decades to come, Smith said.
The opportunity for such changes comes but once a generation. The park's management plan, the size of a small book, was last updated in 1986. It will take several years to complete the revision, as the general public, visitors, community stakeholders and government agencies are all asked to contribute.
Every national park is required to have such a plan, which guides management decisions affecting its resources and visitors' experiences.
People are invited to discuss their ideas and concerns about the park with its staff and planning team during informal workshops scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Sept. 9 in Spotsylvania County, Fredericksburg and Orange County, respectively.
Among the issues that will be discussed are new visitor facilities, possible expansion of park boundaries, recreational use, landscape restoration, educational services, partnerships for preservation and development, and the protection of visitors and resources.
"The open houses are just a first step in developing a 20-year vision for the park," Smith said. "We need people's help in identifying issues, formulating solutions and peering into the future."
In addition to the open houses, information sessions for the public will be held at the park's Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville visitor centers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday and on Sept. 9.
More information is available on the park's Web site, nps.gov/frsp, and in an online newsletter the park has just published.
People are also invited to send ideas directly to frsp_
Email: gmp@nps.gov, to join the park mailing list and to stay informed by visiting the Web site as the plan progresses.
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
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WEDNESDAY, 5-8 p.m., Riverbend High School, 12301 Spotswood Furnace Road, Spotsylvania THURSDAY, 5:30-8 p.m., Central Rappahannock Regional Library headquarters, Caroline Street, Fredericksburg WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 5-8 p.m., Lake of the Woods Clubhouse, 102 Lakeview Parkway, Orange |